


Off The Record Payslips

by R_Quarion



Series: A Jarring Series of (First Order) Events [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Armitage Hux & Phasma Friendship, Armitage Hux Has Feelings, Fluff and Crack, Hidden Relationship, Hux and Ren are trying to be sneaky, Implied Sexual Content, Kylo Ren Needs a Hug, M/M, Phasma Lives, Phasma Ships It, Secret Relationship, Triumvirate, pre-Rise of Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:00:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22924498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Quarion/pseuds/R_Quarion
Summary: Phasma's job requires a keen eye. So when she notices that Hux and Kylo have been having unscheduled time alone, she decided to try and help Hux get back on his schedule. The jar reads: I said I wouldn’t hook up with him then I did again jar- 5 credits.
Relationships: Armitage Hux & Phasma & Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Series: A Jarring Series of (First Order) Events [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1702636
Comments: 5
Kudos: 93





	Off The Record Payslips

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Team ARKS Discord Server](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Team+ARKS+Discord+Server).



Hux glared at the jar. Strange that, on a ship filled to the brim with stormtroopers, state of the art weaponry and ships ready to launch themselves into battle at a single command, that this single small glass jar was more of a concern to the general. Where he should be concerned for troop loyalty or the functionality of the First Order’s arsenal, Hux was in the hallway frowning at a _jar_.

 _I said I wouldn’t hook up with him,_ it said in perfectly handwritten black marker, _then I did again jar- 5 credits._

“Captain Phasma, might I---” Hux felt somewhat _democratic_ this particular evening. He intended to come to a potential agreement regarding the jar.  
“No.” She didn’t miss a beat. Hux tilted his head and frowned at the silver trooper. Narrowing his eyes at her. “Pay up.”  
With a sigh Hux reached into his pocket, searching for the five credit coin he knew was there beside his switchblade.  
“Is this really the most appropriate time?” Hux spoke through gritted teeth. Usually when Phasma confronted Hux with the jar, it was in places where they could not be seen. His quarters, her quarters, during shift swaps on the bridge, but never in the corridor like this.  
“Hypocrite.” She reminded him, tilting the jar forward. “Do you forget that the reason this jar exists is because you are unaware of what is an _appropriate time_ ?”  
Hux scrunched up his nose as he put the coin in the jar. It hit the pile with sharp clinking noises and reminded him that, unfortunately, it wasn’t a rare occurrence.

The hook up jar had come aboard the Finalizer after two incidents of Hux being late to his shift. By a few mere minutes but still considered to be late despite the subjectivity of time. Most officers didn’t bat an eyelid. They didn’t dare. But Phasma wasn’t most officers, she was a captain, and having an eye for anything out of the ordinary was part of her job.

It was only once she spotted a hickey hidden behind Hux’s collar that she put two and two together.

It hadn’t taken her much longer to figure out _who_ the other participant was. No officer would be allowed the privilege of such an act with Hux, she knew how much he valued his authority. There were very few possibilities. It only took a hesitant nod between the general and Kylo Ren as they crossed paths on the bridge for Phasma to know. It was only a few days later that while distracted, Hux offhandedly commented that he needed to get his priorities in order. 

“Maybe you and Lord Ren _both_ need to get your priorities in order.”  
Hux nearly spat out his coffee at the remark.  
“Pardon?” He wiped his bottom lip with the palm of his hand and did his best I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about face. It did not convince Phasma in the slightest.  
“You don’t fool me, Hux.” She reminded him as she took a seat beside him. The disregarded paperwork on his desk now spattered with little brown stains of coffee.  
“I haven’t the foggiest---”  
“Don’t play dumb with me. We both know you’re smarter than that…”  
“ _Fine._ I won’t hook up with him again.”  
“And I know exactly how to be sure you keep that promise.”

Phasma knew a lot of things about Hux. Their growth into power had been one of consistently crossing paths. They trusted each other as much as they could muster. Both were not strangers to betrayal. Without even needing to be asked, Phasma kept Hux and Ren’s intimacy completely unspoken. It was during a celebration for the success of the Starkiller Base’s functionality that it was brought up again. 

Ren was not one to attend such gatherings. His scowl and foul mood were always enough to be sure that he was avoided. His face was never dared shown before troopers and any attempt at chatting as if he weren’t of greater authority had undesired consequences. So when that mask had shown itself, Hux’s stomach dropped. Phasma was by his side in a second and had handed him a jar.

“What is this?” Phasma hadn’t provided any context but instead let Hux read the writing on the jar. Calm expression was overtaken with disbelief and he quickly shielded any potential onlookers from reading it.  
“Are you crazy?!” Hux hissed, looking over his shoulder. Looking up to Phasma’s unmasked face was very similar to looking at her helmet. Unexpressive, serious and straight-to-the-point.  
“Far from it.” She cocked her head, “I’m simply keeping my promise.”  
“Although I appreciate the consideration--” Hux looked over his shoulder again. Everyone of any note in the Order was lingering in mild conversations. Clinking of wine glasses and the occasional bout of joyous laughter was heard. Black suits against red carpets. But that was not the focus of Hux’s sights.  
“You’re going to do it anyway?”  
“What? No?” He jumped back into the conversation, green eyes staring Phasma down.  
“Why are you looking at him then?”

Hux casted his eyes back over his shoulder, for the third time, to where Ren was standing in a conversation with an officer that Hux recognised to be Thannison.  
“Ugh, fine.” Hux screwed his nose up as he found a five credit coin and passively aggressively placed it in the jar. It was the first and Hux had no idea how many coins were to join it.  
“Only five?” Phasma raised an eyebrow.  
“The jar says five-- _oh_ .” Hux scowled, picking up on what she meant. Without another word and possibly the angriest expression, Hux added another five before hissing, “you are _unbelievable._ ”

He bit down on his tongue to hold himself back as he walked away. Only to pierce the skin with his teeth when he heard Phasma call out after him,  
“Go get ‘em tiger.”

The bitter taste on his tongue mirrored how he felt.

Hux could only pray that Phasma would forget about the jar. After the fall of Starkiller Base and all the chaos that came with it, days would go by where they didn’t see each other. When she approached him one evening after not seeing him for a day and a half, he expected more inconvenient news about the Resistance. What he didn’t expect was for the jar to be placed next to his coffee.

“Are you---” Hux rubbed at his weary eyes,  
“Serious? Deadly. Haven’t seen you in nearly two days, so--” she cut herself off as Hux pulled out a fifty credit coin and dropped it in the jar. Not often was she stuck for words but that had certainly caught her off guard, “ _fifty_ ? Oh, Hux, where have you even found the time???”  
“You know how people sleep during the night? I haven’t been.” Too tired to defend himself, he shrugged.

“This system isn’t working out how I planned. Maybe I’ll start charging interest for specifics… for example, if you were to go down on---”  
“Phasma, no. I will have _no_ money left.”  
“But you will have had a night’s rest.”  
“Do I look like I need rest?”  
Paler than she could ever remember him to be and hair slicked back in a way that somehow made it unmovable, she looked at the way his eyes seemed to sink into his skull and simply nodded. 

Time passed and Hux looked no different. He looked exhausted but refused to show it in his stature. Before Hux declared the Fulminatrix’s jump to hyperspace, he had passed Phasma in the halls. He knew she had her own mission in planning and before she could even patronise him, he snapped.  
“Can’t I just give you my paycheck, it will be easier for the both of us.”  
“Hux. That’s two thousand credits.”  
“Just take it.” He sighed, “before we jump to hyperspace…”  
Hux did not know that when the ship would come out of hyperspace, he would have an unpleasant conversation with a Resistance pilot by the name of Dameron. Nor did he expect to lose the Dreadnought. It had _not_ been his day.

Hux didn’t see Phasma until their reunion on the Supremacy where he, for the first time since Starkiller, really felt as if he were getting back on top of things. _Well._ He had been on top of _something_ during that time but it had not been as beneficial to the Order. A public execution was to be held for Resistance members that Phasma had brought to him. A waste of plasma bolts, she had deemed. He wondered if she would point to the jar as soon as the prisoners were executed.

That had not played out as planned.

Before he knew it, he was screaming at Ren for Snoke’s demise. _Finish this? Who do you think you're talking to? You presumed to command my army? Our Supreme Leader is dead! We have no ruler!_ At that moment, the air was taken from his lungs and, grasping at the invisible tendrils that were tightened around his airway, he proclaimed Ren as the new Supreme Leader. 

Phasma was dragged from the smouldering remains and to the medbay before Hux had even known she had fallen in battle. Silver armour charred and covered in ash, face patterned with horrendous burns, Hux could only suffer through the Battle of Crait before he returned to wait by her side for recovery. The medical droid was a pessimist. Not surprising, considering it was programmed by The First Order. 

When Phasma _did_ wake up, Hux broke a smile. It had been awhile since he had done that. It was a genuine one too. His teeth could be seen and crinkles formed by his eyes.  
“H…” She could barely talk, “how much d-do you owe me?”  
Tears nearly spilled over onto Hux’s cheeks. He sniffed and shook his head,  
“To think that my debt had nearly been cleared by that traitorous scum and his little friend.”  
“Takes more than those two to kill me… you’re avoiding.” Her voice sounded so pain-filled that Hux nearly winced at it. He wouldn’t tell her not to talk; she did as she pleased.  
“Does the interest go up now Ren is our Supreme Leader?” 

Her eyes, bloodshot and strained, blinked at the ceiling in disbelief. She had been out for that time, yet to find out about Ren’s unconventional promotion.  
“It doubles.”  
Hux scoffed, tracing his thumb over the hand of hers that he had been holding before she had woken up.  
“As much money as I’m losing… I’m glad you’re alive.”

Healing for Phasma would be a difficult process. But she was headstrong and determined and, within record time, she was walking a few hallways at a time. A walking stick in one hand, dressed in officers uniform. She hated that uniform but the medics drew the line at it. No armour, it would only put unnecessary pressure on the burns. Phasma settled for the cape draped over her shoulder. Black and red. She also refused to wear a mask of any sort. “ _Let them fear my wounds_ ,” she once told Hux, “ _they can underestimate me, won’t be the first, but they will be wrong.”_

“She’s strong.” Ren had once interrupted their own silence. Sitting across from each other eating dinner in content silence, he had bought her up.  
“Phasma?”  
“Yes.” Ren was tired too, he had been searching for something known as a sith wayfinder. Hux was there to support, scold and occasionally snap when Ren went too far.  
“You should visit her in the medbay more often. She’s nearly given her life for us _twice_.”

Hux quickly came to regret that choice. When Hux and Ren disappeared from the bay for twenty odd minutes, she’d raise her growing back eyebrow. The jar, long since lost, but Hux had other ways of transfering credits.  
“You two were gone for twenty minutes…?” She frowned at the notification, “why thirty credits?”  
“Don’t want to talk about it.” Hux raised his eyebrows back and spoke with spite.  
“Hux, what did you do?”

For a man of few words, Phasma was able to learn a lot. She would pester him for credits in times where she hadn’t even seen them together in hours. When asking how she knew, her answers were on a scale of hypervigilance.  
“It’s how you’re standing. You parted your hair on the other side. Ren hasn’t force choked anyone in… nearly an _hour_! Record time.”

Ren was on the brink of finding the sith wayfinder when he invited both Hux and Phasma to the ships bar for a drink. It was an odd request but, upon arriving, Ren promised them that _this_ would be the key to it all. Hux had briefly excused himself and Ren asked something she had hoped he hadn’t realised,  
“You keep paying for Hux’s drinks…”  
“Yes. Well. He has had some significant personal expenses.”  
The way that Ren gazed after Hux was something Phasma hadn’t seen in years. A desire for something that _wasn’t_ typical in the dark side of the force. She followed his gaze to where Hux had been and felt a sudden swell of gratitude for the both of them.  
“Doesn’t he make four thousand credits a month?”  
“Yes. But he is shameless.”  
“What?”  
“What?” Phasma repeated,”just, pay for his next drink.”  
Ren did just that. He smiled lightly at Hux’s return.  
Without much hesitation, their glasses were raised and Phasma’s cold hearted tone was put to a notion of warmth.

“To our triumvirate.”

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to the Kylux Squad Server for the chat about this. Sorry it got a little angsty aye.


End file.
